Lent Devotions

Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd (v. 16).

The five thousand, miraculously fed by our Lord, had been tired and hungry; they had not intended to wander so far away from home and had brought no provisions with them. This is a picture of the world today. Wandering about in a world of sin, people need the life-giving nourishment that only Christ can supply.

Notice how helpless the disciples were when faced with the situation. People today do not have satisfactory answers to the problems of the world. Assemblies and councils may be able to make some contribution, but the final solution cannot come from them.

Only Christ could feed the five thousand. Christ has the answer for the needs of men today as well. His promise is not only for life everlasting, but also for life abundant. He can take away the frustrations, fears, and anguish and replace them with a peace that the world knows nothing about.

Today’s devotional was written by the late Pierce Maassen, a pastor in the RCA. It was originally published in 1967.This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit http://www.woh.org.